Reconnecting with Our Deep Belonging to Nature

Reconnecting with Our Deep Belonging to Nature


“THE HUMAN IS A DISTILLATE of the universe,” said the researcher and philosopher Jean-Marie Pelt, in keeping with the teachings of ancient traditions and quantum physics. Belonging to nature is written deep inside every single one of our cells. “Nature” is our nature! If we mapped the history of life on Earth (3.8 billion years) onto the scale of a human lifespan, we could say that life appeared 38 years ago, the first humans four months ago (400,000 years), Homo sapiens two months ago (200,000 years), and consumer society one minute ago (60 years)! Seen in this light, we present-day humans are a tad young to presume to know how to safely reshape the world to suit our desires! It would undoubtedly be wiser to lean on the far more ancient wisdom of nature and of life itself.
For centuries, humanity has believed that it is sovereign, that it can (and must) dominate the world, and that our freedom consists of extricating ourselves from the laws of nature that shape us. We have lost sight of the fact that we form an integral part of the natural. To destroy nature is to destroy ourselves. To peel ourselves away from nature is to lose the profound meaning of our presence on Earth. The result is that human beings have seen themselves in exile and have searched with all manner of means—often illusory ones—to reconnect with the true meaning of life, one that is in harmony with the whole.


If we accept the idea that our planet is alive, we come to appreciate that each element of its “body,” including each person, has a specific role to play. All that remains is to find out what our role is and put it into practice! The complexity of relationships among the natural elements keeps the system healthy and balanced. Elements that are not integrated or useful disappear. As the Anglo-French philosopher Edward (Teddy) Goldsmith, founder of the journal The Ecologist, reminds us: “In order for the ecosphere to conserve its stability, all living beings that compose it must obey a true hierarchy of laws, which themselves form the laws of nature.” The problem is that modern humanity’s way of life disturbs this order: “It is the inability of modern humans to respect the limits that protect the integrity and stability of the various social and ecological systems that trigger their destabilization and disaggregation.” Of course, as Goldsmith recognizes, “We can transgress the laws of Gaia, but there will be a price to pay...”  Doing so may even result in the death of the system.
What if humanity learned to position itself in partnership with nature, taking part in the evolution and co-creation of the world? This permaculture book is here to help you be guided and inspired by the native, forgotten intelligence buried deep within you. Indeed, it is not learning we need so much as detoxifying: we need to break free from the conditioning that has stifled our true identity. The good news is that, in the right circumstances, our dormant potential cries out for reawakening. Living freely today means rediscovering the creative energy within us that powers all strata of life; it means rejoining the flow of evolution along with all other life forms, life forms which never stopped cooperating with creation—after all, they don’t have the choice.
Permaculture principle 4: Apply self-regulation and accept feedback

Ripe for change?

Do you feel the confusion of meaninglessness in your life and the recurring dissatisfaction associated with this? Do you feel as though you’re running without ever reaching your destination? If so, you are ripe for change. It’s not about making the leap in response to some outside influence. The signal will come (if it comes at all!) from within, when you finally tire of your current situation. Little by little, you will learn how to deprogram your habits, your assumptions, and your dysfunctional behaviours in relation to nature. Gradually, you will want to simplify what can be simplified to make way for a vital and serene balance. “He who has grasped the immense simplicity of things, he who has heard the single note through the universal noise, owns the world,” said paleontologist, theologian, and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. That’s wisdom!

Excerpt from the book : Human Permaculture, Life Design for Resilient Living.

Edward Teddy Goldsmith, The Way: An Ecological World View (London, Rider, 1992; Revised Edition, Cambridge, UK, Green Books, 1996).

Bernard Alonso wrote:We have lost sight of the fact that we form an integral part of the natural. To destroy nature is to destroy ourselves. To peel ourselves away from nature is to lose the profound meaning of our presence on Earth. The result is that human beings have seen themselves in exile and have searched with all manner of means—often illusory ones—to reconnect with the true meaning of life, one that is in harmony with the whole. . .

It makes my heart happy to ready your post, Bernard. This is probably one of the most important messages humans need to hear. And to understand.

I don't think I realized how disconnected I was to nature until I started trying to live closer to it through self-reliant homesteading. For as long as I can remember, I loved being outdoors, I loved hiking, I loved camping, I loved gardening. But now, eleven years into serious homesteading, I realize I was simply dancing around the fringes, not beating with the heart of nature. My intentions were good, but now I realize that over the years, I wasn't trying to cooperate with nature, I was trying to get nature to cooperate with me! To make the change, however, to make the transition, requires a humility that doesn't come naturally for us humans, I think.

Thank you, I am glad your liked my post. This same book have been well received in the Francophone milieu ( 18 thousand book ....  I need to built an English communities and I am not very much known ... My concern is the urgent timing of the world wide situation. English is one of the most spoken language and a big chunk of this planet speak English ... so I am excited to be able to retch those who are still asleep ... and stimulate transition.

Parts of your writing really remind me of videos I've seen by Toby Hemingway. I'm involved in some local wilderness schools based around the teachings of Jon young. There is some permaculture and I would say the difference is between the word living and the word being. Permaculture is living in/with nature and there is so much more life to have than just being, sitting and observing and communing. It's good to know about shelters but it's better to have a home. I'm reading a book about unschooling and nature connection so I'm very excited by this topic and your book!